Clean and Healthy Recipes

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This was one of the very first recipes I made (along with the no shell tacos), when I first started my new eating lifestyle. Both recipes were my staples and backups for when another recipe tasted bad to me.

This is a saucy recipe so if you’re more of a rub kinda person, check out the awesome smokey chicken wing recipe I posted. I like both, but truth be told, the rub one is my favorite. Nevertheless, don’t let that stop you from trying this!

This recipe is a great sweet yet refreshing drink on a hot summer’s day! I know my mom will really enjoy this recipe! She absolutely LOVES lemons! All you have to do is say the word LEMON around her and her mouth starts to water! LEMON LEMON LEMON!!!! HAHAHA Actually, I’m being rotten. Just the mention of the word LEMON really does make her mouth water, but not in a good way…it makes her pucker…she hates lemons. Sorry mom, just in case you started missing me too much, that should fix it 😉

Seriously though, this is a fabulous drink if you like strawberries and lemons! You could also replace some of the water with ice and make it a frozen strawberry lemonade…and if you’re having one of those days, maybe a splash of rum 😉 just kidding

Strawberry Lemonade Recipe

Ingredients:

1/4 c xylitol

1/2 c lemon juice

15 medium frozen or fresh strawberries (Use less if they’re large)

3 c water

Instructions:

Add all ingredients to blender and blend away until it’s all liquified.

I don’t know about your neck of the woods, but today is supposed to be in the 90’s (which I am VERY happy about!) so I figured this would be a great day to post this awesome recipe! Peanut butter and Chocolate are two of my favorite loves and merging them together is nothing short of blissful goodness.

I thought about getting an ice cream attachment for my KitchenAid stand mixer (it’s pink!) but then I heard that it’s possible to make ice cream in a high-powered blender. Well, since I now have a Vitamix blender (I would love to compare the Blendtech with it), I went on a search for healthy ice cream recipes. I got the basics for the recipe from Chocolate-Covered Katie and played around with the ingredients until I got everything perfect. This will probably be the only time you will see any added salt to my recipes but it’s only a very small amount and she said to trust her and not to leave it out.

If you don’t have a high-powered blender, don’t fret! You can still make this and instead of ice cream, you will get a nice thick shake!! Still delicious!

Add all ingredients in a plastic canning freezer jar (get them where they sell canning jars and stuff. They are clear/white plastic with a green lid-this works best) and mix as best as you can with a spoon. It won’t all mix together but that’s ok.

using your pusher stick, push frozen mass into blades until fully mixed. Less than a minute or so. turn blender off

You now have a rich creamy ice cream.

scoop into bowl and enjoy immediately-it melts fast!

This makes plenty enough to share with another person…but who wants to? 😉

You can always freeze what you don’t eat but it will be very hard so let it sit out a little bit or nuke (if you use one) for a few seconds or even dunk the bottom of the bowl in hot water for a few seconds before eating.

Enjoy! 🙂

For regular blender:

Let frozen mass thaw until your blender can handle it.

Blend until smooth

Either drink as a shake or refreeze for a very firm ice cream which you can thaw out some so it’s creamy.

This makes plenty enough to share with another person…but who wants to? 😉

There are so many almond milk recipes out there and some people add flavorings and sweeteners while others do not. This one is just your plain and simple almond milk recipe. I basically just use it in place of cow’s milk in recipes rather than drink it so I don’t add flavorings or sweeteners. My hubby drinks it and has used it in cereal and likes it just as it is.

Many recipe sources claim you need a Vitamix blender to make this but that’s not true. I used my Kitchen Aid and it worked just fine. Just blend a little longer. Well, my blender jar started cracking (not due to making almond milk) and hubby wanted me to get a top of the line one so he told me to just upgrade to a Vitamix since we use the blender so much. Plus he gets all the good things we make in it! 😉 Man, I love that thing!

So there are some basic tools to make your almond milk making a little easier. One is a nut milk bag. You can use cheese cloth but let me tell ya it’s more work, more tedious, messier, and takes longer. Save yourself the trouble and buy a nut milk bag. This is the one I bought and love it. Yes, it’s pricey but the cheaper ones have bad reviews. This one is well made, large enough, and works great. Another great tool is an 8 cup measuring cup. It’s large enough to drain the milk into and has the pouring spout for when you transfer it to your storage bottle. A good sealing storage bottle to keep your almond milk in. The one I use had extra virgin olive oil in it from Costco. After I used it up, I washed the bottle really well-it has a nice tight seal. And of course, you need a blender.

Almond Milk Recipe

Ingredients:

1 c raw, unsalted almonds

water enough to cover almonds by a couple of inches

4 c water (some recipes say 3 c. nut milk bag says 4 c. I’ve made both ways and both are good. 4 c is my regular way. You obviously get more milk with 4 c)

Instructions:

Using nut milk bag:

place almonds in a medium bowl and cover with water until the water is a couple of inches above the nuts. You can have more water but not less.

Soak the almonds over night (at least 8 hours).

Drain and rinse almonds.

Add 4 c water to blender and add almonds. Vitamix-start on 1 and move to 10 then high. Blend on high 2 mins. Other blender-blend on highest speed 3-4 mins. you don’t want to hear chopping noises anymore.

Place nut milk bag in 8 c measuring cup and pour milk into bag.

I suspend my bag above the measuring cup by wrapping the drawstring around my cabinet handles for about 5 mins. to allow as much drainage on its own. You don’t have to though. You can just start squeezing and wringing the bag forcing the milk into the measuring cup while leaving the almond pulp in the bag. Be strategic about this as I always happen to squirt milk everywhere if I don’t aim properly or I get over zealous.

Squeeze and wring until you can’t get any more milk out and the pulp is pretty “dry”.

Pour milk into a clean bottle, label it with the date, and refrigerate (hey that rhymes!)

You can either discard almond pulp or use it for breading, or making crackers or something. You can put it in a baggie and freeze it til you have a bunch to make something.

Thoroughly rinse nut milk bag clean and hang to dry.

“They” say the milk only lasts 3-4 days in the fridge til it goes bad. I’ve not found this to be true. I’ve used mine up to 2 weeks with no problems but if you go beyond the recommended 3-4 day period, do so at your own risk. Let your nose tell ya. If it doesn’t then your taste buds will. You will learn what it should smell and taste like. But, when in doubt, dump it out (Ha! I’m on a roll!)

This makes 5 c of milk. If you only use 3 c of water then you will only get 4 c but it will be a stronger milk. Try it both ways and see which you like best. Experiment with vanilla and xylitol if you like.

Enjoy! 🙂

Using cheese cloth:

place almonds in a medium bowl and cover with water until the water is a couple of inches above the nuts. You can have more water but not less.

Soak the almonds over night (at least 8 hours).

Drain and rinse almonds.

Add 4 c water to blender and add almonds. Vitamix-start on 1 and move to 10 then high. Blend on high 2 mins. Other blender-blend on highest speed 3-4 mins. you don’t want to hear chopping noises anymore.

Place large cheesecloth in a strainer. Place strainer over 8 c measuring cup. Pour some milk into strainer. Using spatula, move almond pulp around so milk gets through strainer and into measuring cup.

repeat until all milk has been put through strainer. bring up ends of cheese cloth to wrap up pulp and begin to carefully squeeze and wring cheese cloth until pulp is pretty “dry”.

Pour milk into a clean bottle, label it with the date, and refrigerate (hey that rhymes!)

You can either discard almond pulp or use it for breading, or making crackers or something. You can put it in a baggie and freeze it til you have a bunch to make something.

Discard cheese cloth

“They” say the milk only lasts 3-4 days in the fridge til it goes bad. I’ve not found this to be true. I’ve used mine up to 2 weeks with no problems but if you go beyond the recommended 3-4 day period, do so at your own risk. Let your nose tell ya. If it doesn’t then your taste buds will. You will learn what it should smell and taste like. But, when in doubt, dump it out (Ha! I’m on a roll!)

This makes 5 c of milk. If you only use 3 c of water then you will only get 4 c but it will be a stronger milk. Try it both ways and see which you like best. Experiment with vanilla and xylitol if you like.

With all of these yummy main dishes I posted, I figured I need to post a few desserts to quench the after dinner sweet tooth. I love that I am finding healthy alternatives to the sugar and preservative laden garbage that lines the grocery store shelves! What’s even better is the fact that these treats taste good and you don’t feel like you’re missing out on anything at all!

I don’t want to sound like a broken record but remember, just because these treats are healthy doesn’t mean you don’t use moderation! 😉

My daughter actually found this recipe somewhere on this wonderful internet but I don’t know where she found it so I can’t give credit to the true author but I can tell you it’s not one of mine that I came up with, unfortunately! I never would have thought to combine these ingredients but believe me, it tastes like the real deal and you would never know what it’s made from!

Chocolate Pudding Recipe

Ingredients:

1 ripe avocado

1/4 c cocoa powder

1/4 c agave nectar

1/4 c almond milk

1 tsp vanilla

Instructions:

scoop avocado out of skin and into small bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients. Mix using immersion blender or hand mixer until smooth (immersion blender works best) chill if you can wait (it will firm up some) and enjoy! 🙂

I know I haven’t posted in over a week but please forgive me! Last week was finals week and I needed to buckle down and study! Well, that’s all over now and Wednesday was my last day of the semester and what did I do to celebrate? I made these chewilicious cookies!

I know, you’re thinking…but I thought you only eat healthy! Well, these actually ARE healthy! Not saying you could just sit and eat the whole batch; everything in moderation! Oh, did I mention they are gluten-free? Did I also mention they are packed with protein, vitamins, and minerals?

These cookies are not made from just ordinary flour. They are made using blanched almond flour. This recipe is adapted from Elana’s Pantry and she recommends to use the blanched almond flour from honeyvillegrain.com or nuts.com. She says Bob’s Red Mill won’t work for her recipes. If you want to be adventurous, go ahead and try it. I buy from nuts.com because I don’t want to take a chance of a flop!

Now the recipe states to mix the wet and the dry ingredients separately then merge together BUT, I am lazy, er I mean busy and so I just put everything but the chocolate chips into the mixing bowl and combine until mixed thoroughly